Keeping My Heart With All Diligence

 
The heart is the wellspring of desire and decision.
 
The Old Testament word heart often refers to the organ of the circulatory system. Both testaments also see the heart figuratively as the center of the personality or spiritual life.
 
If we find that our hunger and thirst for God and His kingdom are declining, we should reevaluate our priorities, honestly acknowledge our luke-warmness and earnestly pray for a renewed desire for God and His favor. Failure to “keep” our hearts results in a departure from the path of safety and entrapment in a destructive snare. When we watch over our heart with all diligence it results in all our ways being established in His favor and grace.
 
The Bible speaks of the heart as the center “...out of it are the issues of life.” Prov. 4:23 Therefore the heart contains the totality of one’s intellect, emotion, and volition.
 
 
The Heart is the Center of Intellect
 
a. We consider things in the heart Deut. 8:5
b. We meditate in the heart Ps. 19:14
c. Commune with God I Sam. 1:12-13
d. Hide God’s word in the heart Ps. 119:11
e. Imagine things in the heart Ps. 140:2
f. Reason in their heart Mark 2:8
g. Doubt in their heart Mark 11:23
h. Ponder in their heart Luke 2:19
 
The Heart is the Center of Emotion
 
a. The glad heart Ex. 4:14
b. The loving heart Deut. 6:5
c. The fearful heart Josh 5:1
d. The courageous heart Ps. 27: 14
e. The repentant heart Ps. 51: 17
f. The angry heart Prov. 19:3
g. The revived heart Isa. 57: 15
h. The grieving heart Lam. 2: 18
i. The humble heart Matt. 11: 29
 
 
The Heart is the Center of the Human Will
 
a. The hardened heart Ex. 4: 21
b. The heart that inclined to cling to God Josh. 24: 23
c. The heart that obeys Ps. 119:36
d. The heart that seek God 1 Chron.22:19
e. The heart that decides 2 Chron.6: 7
f. The heart that wants to receive from the Lord Ps.21: 1-2
g. The heart that desires to do something Rom.10:1
 
The Nature of the Heart Apart from God
 
Jer. 17: 9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
 
Jesus confirm Jeremiah diagnosis when he said that what defiles a person before God is not the failure to follow some ceremonial law, but the willingness to listen to the wicked inclination lodged in one’s heart, such as “evil thought, adulteries, fornication, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, laciviousness, blasphemy, pride." (Mark 7: 21-22)
 
Jesus taught about the seriousness of sin in the heart . For example, the sin of lust is just as adultery Matt 5: 21-22.
The sin of hatred is just as murder, Matt 5: 27-28.
 
The heart that are bent upon doing evil run a grave risk of becoming hardened when they refuse to listen to God’s word and to obey what he commanded. Eventually, they will find the heart will be hardened, lose all sensitivity to his word and the desire of the Holy Spirit. Paul warns us not to harden our heart Heb. 3: 8-12.
 
The Regenerated Heart
 
God’s answer to the sinfulness of the human heart is regeneration, which comes to all those who repent of their sins, turn to God and place a personal faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. The heart of those who experience spiritual birth, God creates a desire to love him and obey him.
 
God emphasized to His people the necessity of a love,  which comes from the heart. Deut. 4: 29.
 
It is very important for us to walk in the regenerated heart. We will find ourself meditating on his word continually in our heart.
 
a. Seek God with all their heart Ps. 19: 14
b. Hide God’s word in their heart Ps. 119: 2, 10.
c. Trust in the Lord with their whole heart Ps. 119: 11
d. Experience the love of God poured out into their heart Rom 5: 5, Prov. 3: 5
 
Keep thy heart with all diligence!!